Net Neutrality Important in Schools
By Joe Dysart
The raging battle over Net Neutrality -- a campaign to retain equal access for all to the Internet -- sounds like a controversy only cybergeeks could love, but it also matters greatly to your school.
The reason: Major telecommunication companies like AT&T, Comcast, Sprint, and others are trying to create two Internets. One would be free but information would travel as slow as a dirt road, while the other would perform like a six-lane expressway, but at premium rates.
For schools that can’t afford the extra charge, a two-tiered Internet would translate into a multitude of hassles. In worst case scenarios, trying to click your way through a school site using a broadband connection could feel a lot more like you’re using dial-up.
It would also impede access to the Web for staff and administrators, many of whom rely on the Internet for keeping data like attendance records, student transcripts, and other vital information.
And students and other community members will have much less of an incentive to join and participate in school social network sites. Why clod-hop around a clunky community site offered by your school, when you can cruise in the fast lane of a Facebook or MySpace -- each of which will gladly pay a premium to dust the competition?
“Five years ago, it wouldn’t have been much of an issue,” says Tim Colletti, director of media and technology at South High School in Pueblo, Colo. “But so many schools now have websites and have moved their computer networking to the Internet, it looks like a two-tiered Internet will have a pretty adverse effect.”
Those fighting to retain the status quo for schools and other small and medium sites don’t plan to accept changes quietly. They insist the smallest blog or high school site should receive the same opportunity for fast downloads as a Fortune 500 website.
“Internet providers like AT&T, Verizon, and Comcast are spending millions of dollars lobbying Congress to gut Net Neutrality,” says Craig Aaron, communications director for Free Press (www.freepress.net), a Washington, D.C.-based special interest group lobbying for the preservation of Net Neutrality. “If Congress doesn’t take action now to implement meaningful Net Neutrality provisions, the future of the Internet is at risk.”
Not just an industry issue
Fortunately, some members of Congress have called for new hearings to resist the corporate push for a two-tiered Internet.
Specifically, U.S. Sens. Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.) and Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) have requested Senate Commerce Committee hearings, which would investigate allegations that Comcast is deliberately slowing down some Net traffic.
The two senators have thrown their support behind the Internet Freedom Preservation Act of 2007, a bill that aims to preserve equality on the Web in terms of service offered, while prohibiting discriminatory practices by Internet service providers who might charge more for faster download times.
Ben Scott, policy director at Free Press, says elected officials must work to keep the Internet free of gatekeepers who want to destroy the Internet’s power as a platform for free speech and economic innovation. Jeannine Kenney, a senior policy analyst with the non-profit Consumers Union (publisher of Consumer Reports), agrees.
“This bill will help ensure that consumers will continue to enjoy the competitive and affordable services that broadband has brought them and that big telecommunications companies cannot use their networks to hinder consumers’ access to those services,” Kenney says. “The legislation is the first step towards a national policy that will ensure that all consumers, not just the most affluent, have affordable access to high-speed Internet services.”
Of course, the bill’s proponents have some formidable foes. Recently, the U.S. Department of Justice, in an advisory to the Federal Communications Commission, disagreed with the concept of Net Neutrality. As expected, the Department of Justice framed its advisory as a defense of the free market.
“Consumers and the economy are benefiting from the innovative and dynamic nature of the Internet,” says Thomas O. Barnett, the assistant attorney general in charge of the department’s antitrust division. “Regulators should be careful not to impose regulations that could limit consumer choice and investment in broadband facilities.”
Free Press railed against the decision.
“The DOJ ruling raises legitimate concern that powerful corporate and White House gatekeepers are working together to dismantle Internet freedoms and impose their will upon the Web,” says Timothy Karr, Free Press’ campaign director.
The wrestling match in the nation’s capital over this issue looks like it will continue for some time.
Keeping an “I” on it
Closer to home, the DOJ decision reveals that extremely powerful special interest groups are currently in the process of helping decide just how fast your school’s Web-based systems will run, just how fast your high school website will download, and just how popular your school’s social network may or may not become.
Essentially, every school in the country has a horse in this race, and no matter what the viewpoint of an individual school, it makes sense for administrators to follow the controversy closely.
For more background, including how to get involved to help preserve Net Neutrality, check out Save The Net’s excellent information clearinghouse on the issue:(www.savetheinternet.com/=101).
Joe Dysart (joe@joedysart.com) is an Internet speaker and business consultant.